Office Space

One of the few things people think about when accepting the option of working from home, is how much space the job is going to require. Sure, if you’re a freelancer, maybe most of your “work” is on a computer or two, and maybe a couple of external hard drives for backup purposes. That can start to add up, but maybe not enough to become a huge problem. On the other hand, if you work for a software company, or in training, the space can really become an issue. Recently, my company sent me a small server to use as a test environment. Given the fact that I already have a rack full of laptops that are used when doing online training, two laptops of my own (one that is mine to use for my work, one that is configured in the same way as our training machines for me to teach with), two routers, one 16 port switch, dual monitors, copies of all of our training materials, an IP phone, swag to give away at training engagements, plus all of the various computers and things that my wife and I own apart from my job, the server turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. I ran out of space in our home office.

Sadly, this resulted in us switching our spare bedroom and our office. Making the larger of the two rooms into an office, and the smaller into our spare bedroom. I’m afraid that the next step is going to be us having to move, because the “children” have outgrown the house.

So, before you jump on that opportunity to work from home, take a good look around and think about where you’re going to keep everything. There won’t be a workplace for things to be safely out of your house and out of your way. It’ll be there, all the time!

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